Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sarah Martin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Sarah, appreciate you joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
I believe it is important to specify that, at least in my case, making the commitment to go full time with music and getting to a place where I was earning a full time living with music, were two different things and it took a long time to find a healthy work balance for my life. Having said that, I always felt I made enough money, for the stage of life I was in, because I always lived below my means, and put money aside so that I had a nest egg if things were slow or I had the desire to make a shift.
When I first made the leap of quitting my full time job out of college, I was living at home with my parents, and I had paid off my college loans after graduation (I went to a local state school), which gave me the space to build something from the ground up. Making 100-150 three times a week was enough for me to feel secure and happy at that time. I gradually found more venues to play by attending open mics where I knew the venues booked live music and by talking to a bartender or the bookers after I played to find out how I could perform there. For venues without open mics I would either cold-call music spots, physically go into the venues, or talk to friends that played at other venues to find out how to get in touch with whoever booked the music. Usually it took a few times of reaching out to get a hold of someone and I always found, going in physically, or knowing someone else who performed at the venue, helped speed up the communication process. Eventually I was making great money, but I only had a couple days off a month and my voice (and my body) felt the effects. The month before I moved to Nashville, I had mono, pneumonia, bronchitis and nodules (no I’m not kidding), and I played 31 shows in 30 days. It was not a sustainable lifestyle but technically I was earning a full time living.
When I moved to Nashville, I had a stacked savings account, but now I had to afford an apartment, I had to hustle a bit more and living with roommates was really the only viable option to keep costs down. I did get to a point in Nashville where money was a definite stressor because the pay was less, I was getting burnt out, and my savings account was consistently being chipped away at since moving there. I didn’t want to play every day of the week on Broadway and playing only three times a week, for a little more, wasn’t earning me a full time living despite technically being “full time” with music.
There was a turning point during covid where it was brought to my attention, the value of what I do and the level in which I am able to do it at. I started to realize that I shouldn’t be getting paid the same amount as when I first started. Back then, I was just learning how to play guitar in front of a crowd, I was still mildly awkward and stiff on stage, and my song list was limited. After 10+ years, singing and playing had become second nature, I had learned how to interact with a crowd, and I was able to take the majority of on the spot requests I was given. I had this epiphany moment where I realized I had been doing music solo for over 10 years while significantly growing in my craft, which begged the question: “in what other career path does someone not get a raise for 10+ years?” At that moment, I realized because I worked for myself, the only person who was going to give me a raise was me- so I did.
I came to realize that giving myself a raise meant I would have to say no to booking some places I had come to really enjoy playing at, but it also allowed my schedule to be open to higher paying opportunities. I also realized a lot of the people who wanted to book me for private events had no problem paying what I was asking, which made me realize all the money I had missed out on in the past by undervaluing myself or being too afraid to ask for more because I didn’t want to lose the show completely. The biggest hurdle I had to accept, is that it would take more leg work on the front end to find venues that could pay me what I was asking, but in the long run, once I found them, that meant I could play less which meant more balance in my life, I wouldn’t run the risk of blowing out my voice from overuse, and the venue would get the best version of me.
This past year I was able to secure a residency at a venue where I was earning a full time living, while also feeling like I was able to live a balanced life, but in the new year, it won’t be as consistent, so I am currently back on the search for those “golden egg” venues. I’ve also decided to work with a booking agency which is a big leap for me because it means spending money on something I could technically do myself and giving up control- both of which are uncomfortable for me. However, sacrificing a little money and control ultimately means I get back time I would spend on trying to get in contact with venues so that I can work on my craft and other life goals.
Ultimately it was about a 12 year journey to earning (a balanced) full-time living from my creative work and I am still in the ebbs and flows of the ride, and I imagine and accept that the ride will always be that way. The biggest lessons I have learned and continue to take with me are definitely to not undervalue myself, to not be afraid to say no to venues, to accept that finding higher paying venues means more initial leg work and way more patience and it’s important to trust in the process, and that my work & life balance should always be a priority because it results in a better quality of life for me.
For folks who may not have read about you before, can you please tell our readers about yourself, how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc, what type of products/services/creative works you provide, what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others. What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc.
I am a singer/songwriter/country artist originally from Lakeville, Massachusetts and have been involved in music since I joined my first band, as their lead singer, in the 7th grade. Over the years, the band became a duo and I was involved in that until midway through college. When I was 21, I decided I didn’t want to depend on someone else to do what I loved for the rest of my life, and learned to play the guitar and started booking solo shows for myself at 23. At 25 I moved to Nashville for 6 years, playing many of the major spots downtown and growing in my craft and at 31 I moved back to Massachusetts and have continued making my living playing music. I am proud of a lot of things when it comes to my career, but I think I am most proud of the community I have been able to build as a result of my music. There was a point in my career where I knew I loved performing but I just didn’t feel like I was doing enough to give back- I felt there was a lack of purpose in what I was doing. At the time, I also had a weird relationship with social media- the whole thing felt very performative and I didn’t feel like I really knew anyone commenting because I would only go on once in a while. Just before covid, I started going live once a day to sing, and as time went on, I really started forming bonds with the people who were tuning in, and even better, the people tuning in were forming bonds with one another. I love and am so proud of my community because with all the crazy that has gone on in the world in the past two years, and the craziness that continues to go on, when people come to my page or to my shows- they are loving, they are kind, they are welcoming, and they are respectful to one another. My community is a safe place for people, who may not believe the same things, to escape the hateful dialogue of the internet, and come together with the commonality of enjoying music. I am so glad I have been able to help facilitate that space because that is why I believe music is so beautiful and that is my main purpose for continuing to do what I do and why I love it so much. I believe everyone comes from their own lense of reality and that there is a reason people think the way they do. Even if I don’t necessarily agree with something, I believe in mindfully choosing to love people, despite how I feel about their views, because it keeps the door of communication open so I can better understand someone else’s lenses while we move closer towards a place of respect and mutual desire to feel safe, loved, and accepted in this world.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
The goal of my creative journey, and life in general, is to lead with love- both for myself and everyone I interact with, live in gratitude, appreciate the entirety of the ride, be brave, give back, continue to grow, maintain a balance between work and play, and to have it be purposeful.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Two huge lessons I had to unlearn were society’s meaning of “making it” in the music industry and also that not only is failure an option, but it is necessary to the whole journey.
When I got to Nashville, I think I was under the impression there was only one way to “make it” in the industry in the eyes of the world. Over the timespan I was in Nashville, I did a lot of those things but none of them really felt genuine to me or brought me any closer to discovering who I am as an artist. Many things I did because that’s what I saw a lot of my peers doing. I released the music, I made the music videos, and the lyric videos, I (semi) did the cowrite thing, but after that I just really didn’t know where to go- it was like I was doing the same things on repeat while slowing getting older having goals of a house and family someday, and still making the same pennies on the dollar. I had made more money in Massachusetts before moving to Nashville than I ever really had while actually in Nashville but I didn’t think I could leave because I fell victim to the idea that you had to be in Nashville if you wanted to “make it” or if you wanted people to care.
It got to a point where I realized that I was looking to everyone else to tell me what to do. I was waiting for everyone else to give me next steps, as if I had no educated say on my own career I had been involved in for over 20 years. I also started realizing that I had about the same amount of experience as a few of the people I was relying on for advice and a lot of things they were telling me were things I already knew. Don’t get me wrong, there was tons of invaluable information I learned in Nashville that helped get me to where I am now, but at a certain point, you have enough information to form your own vision of what “making it” looks like in your own eyes, and you have to just start walking and see what happens. I was so afraid to make a wrong move in my career that it took me years in between steps. The whole process of taking steps and failing frequently and discovering what you don’t want to do is what forms your path, creates your story, and brings you closer to your own form of success. You get to design it and you get to live it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.SarahMartinMusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahmartinmusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SarahMartinMusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/sarahmartinmusic
- Other: Music Links: https://www.sarahmartinmusic.com/music
Image Credits
Tangible Perception, Smooth Sailing Photography